The Heights (Al-Ma'aarej)
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
A supplicant asked for a punishment bound to happen 1 for the unbelievers, which none may avert, 2 (A Penalty) from Allah, Lord of the Ways of Ascent. 3 To Him the angels and the Spirit (Gabriel) ascend in a day, the measure of which is fifty thousand years. 4 So persevere with becoming patience. 5 Verily they behold it afar off. 6 But We see it very near. 7 The day the sky becomes like molten brass, 8 and the mountains become like wool, 9 And not a friend shall ask a friend, 10 They will be seeing them; the guilty will wish if only he could redeem himself from the punishment of that day, by offering his sons. 11 And his wife and his brother 12 And his kindred who sheltered him, 13 and all the people of the earth, if that could deliver him. 14 But never. It is pure white flame 15 that will strip off the scalp. 16 Calling: "[O Kafir (O disbeliever in Allah, His angels, His Book, His Messengers, Day of Resurrection and in Al-Qadar (Divine Preordainments), O Mushrik (O polytheist, disbeliever in the Oneness of Allah)] (all) such as turn their backs and turn away their faces (from Faith) [picking and swallowing them up from that great gathering of mankind (on the Day of Resurrection) just as a bird picks up a food-grain from the earth with its beak and swallows it up] [Tafsir Al-Qurtubi, Vol. 18, Page 289] 17 And masseth and then hoardeth. 18 ۞ Lo! man was created anxious, 19 Very nervous when touched by misfortune. 20 and whenever good fortune comes to him, he selfishly withholds it [from others]. 21 Except those who closely follow (the Book of God), 22 Who are constant at their worship 23 And those in whose wealth there is a known right, 24 for the needy and the deprived, 25 who confirm the Day of Doom 26 And those who fear the torment of their Lord, 27 Verily! The torment of their Lord is that before which none can feel secure, 28 And those who guard their chastity, 29 Except with their wives and the bondwomen in their possession, for there is no reproach on them. 30 And whosoever seeketh beyond that, then it is those who are the trespassers 31 And those who fulfil their trusts and covenants, 32 and those who stand by their testimony 33 And those who [carefully] maintain their prayer: 34 Such shall dwell in the Gardens (i.e. Paradise) honoured. 35